Beneath Deceit
by Blue Saph Phoenix
Summary: Her birthday is in three days. What if Sakura never knew the reason to why she loved Uchiha Sasuke? And who is this mysterious person giving her various gifts? ItaSaku
1. Chapter 1

Beneath Deceit

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I ever did, I wouldn't be writing this.

I'm sorry for my grammatical errors. And I changed the 'Hitachi' word to 'Itachi'. Hehe. I'm quite clumsy with the keyboard. Thanks for pointing out my mistakes.

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**Chapter One**

"Okay! That's all for today!" said the ultimately cool Hatake Kakashi to his students.

"WHAT! But it's only about ten o' clock! We don't finish until an hour later!" complained the blonde loudmouth in his team, the great Uzumaki Naruto!

"Eh? Shut up, dobe." Said the very famous bishounen of Team 7, Uchiha Sasuke.

"Hah! Tired already, teme?" Naruto said in between breaths.

"I'm not the one lying on the ground. You're the one to talk."

"Shut up, teme!" Sparks emitted from each other's frightening glares and their beautiful petal-haired teammate could do nothing but sigh at their childish behavior. It was always like this and yet Haruno Sakura couldn't quite get used to it. At least she found it amusing at times, but it could get annoying, too.

"Hey! Break it up!" Sakura managed to get in between the two. "Kakashi-sensei already left!" The two boys looked around and saw that there teacher was already gone.

"Aw well." Naruto looked down for a while, then his face lit up again. "Sakura-chan, would you like to go on a date with –" Sakura cut him off.

"For the millionth time, Naruto, NO!" Sakura might've rejected Naruto, but then she'll find herself rejected when she asked the Uchiha out. That was always the routine after their training sessions.

Let's go to Kakashi. Age 26, jounin rank, 184 centimeters and weighs76 kilograms. Oh and let's not forget, single and looking! Kakashi continued to read his lil' orange book, otherwise known as 'Icha Icha Paradise' on his way to the Hokage's office. He reached it a little later, only to find an ANBU captain talking with the current Hokage, Tsunade Godaime.

"Tsunade-same, you've called for me?" he asked in his usually monotone voice.

"Ah yes. I'm sending you on a mission with an ANBU team." Tsunade answered. Kakashi looked at Tsunade questioningly.

"Surely that an ANBU team could do the mission on their own?" he asked. It was not likely to send an ANBU team with a high-level jounin on a mission.

"Not quite. We're dealing with a particular enemy that concerns you." Kakashi looked at her expectantly. "Uchiha Itachi." Kakashi's eyes narrowed, remembering his last encounter with the S-class missing nin.

"What's the mission?"

"The target has been spotted lurking near the east gate. Capture him alive. We need to know the whereabouts of his… organization."

"I accept." And they were off.

But somewhere outside Konoha, a cloaked figure stood at a tree branch, skillfully hiding somewhere in the trees.

"Sakura, gomenasai. Demo neh… otanjou-bi omedetou. (Sakura, sorry. But… happy birthday.)" a voice whispered in the air.

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**Ah! I'm trying my best to finish the second chapter on time! Please bear with me nano! I'll post it a little later. Or maybe tomorrow. Please read and review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Me no own NARUTO. **

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Chapter Two**

"Tadaima!" Sakura announced as she locked the door to the Haruno Estate. She expected her parents to come to the entrance and greet her, but no reply came. Sakura looked inside their kitchen quarters and found a note pinned to the fridge.

Sakura,

Your father and I have an important mission to do in the Wind Country. We'll be back in about two months. Take care of the house and yourself, alright? I left some money on the kitchen counter. I love you.

Love,

Mom

P.S. I know it's a little early but look under your bed, okay?

'Some parents they are, forgetting that my birthday is in three days!' Sakura thought sadly. 'But what's under my bed?' She ran quickly upstairs to her room and found a box hidden underneath the bed. Sakura hurriedly pulled it out and opened it. Inside was a silver chain, hanging on it was a cherry blossom made of precious stones. 'This is so beautiful!' Sakura found another note as she dug deeper in the box.

It read:

Happy birthday to our little cherry blossom.

'Yes. It's beautiful indeed.' Tears streamed down in pure happiness as she carefully put it inside the box again and placed the box under her pillow. Unknown to her that someone was watching her from her bedroom window.

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"For Sakura! For Sakura! Got to find a present for Sakura!" Naruto sang as he passed by the noisy streets of Konoha. 

"A-ah! N-Naruto-kun!" Naruto looked at his left and saw Hinata with Ino and Tenten.

"Ara? Hi Hinata-chan!" Naruto went straight to them. Ino and Tenten were gawking at a shop window, displaying a beautiful pair of silver bangles. "Ino? Tenten? Why are you gawking at the window? Ne, Hinata-chan, what's so special about the window?" Hinata sweatdropped at Naruto's dense behavior. And the two other girls didn't mind his stupidity.

"Naruto-kun, they're not looking at the window. They're looking b-beyond the window!"

"Ooh! I wish that Sasuke-kun would buy me that for my birthday!" Ino said excitedly.

"It's so cute!" said Tenten. Then she sighed. "But it would really be nice if someone would give me that as a present instead of just buying it nano."

"That's true. Why don't you ask Lee-san to buy it for you?" Tenten sighed again.

"Lee-kun has his eyes at Sakura. She's a very special girl, having all those guys wanting her."

"That's true." This time, Ino sighed.

"Do you think Sakura-chan will like that?" asked Naruto. The three girls stared at him as if he was stupid.

"Of course she will!" shouted both Tenten and Ino. Hinata covered her ears with her hands and Naruto… was left unaffected.

"Then I'll buy that for her!" And Naruto cheerfully went inside the shop. And almost had a heart attack when he realized what the price was. "Okay, maybe next time. Ino, didn't Sakura-chan give you any hint at all for what she would like on her birthday?" Ino shook her head.

"I h-have a suggestion. Why don't we give h-her what we want f-for ourselves instead?" said Hinata.

"And I want those bangles." said Ino.

"I m-mean, something else r-rather than those." Naruto looked up, letting Hinata's words sink into his head.

ping!

"I think I get what you mean, Hinata-chan! Thanks!" said Naruto, who hugged Hinata for a short moment. Hinata blushed secretly wishing that that moment would last forever. Too bad it just didn't happen. The three girls sighed, still not knowing what to give to their precious friend.

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"I'm so tired!" Sakura plopped down on her bed. The bright crescent moon shone through her bedroom window. Sakura reached for the small box under her pillow. "Arigato, mama, papa." she murmured as she fell asleep and darkness covered her. 'Where… am I?' She heard crying, and looked to see the sunset shine over the playground. There was a child there. It was… Sakura when she was just a child. Sakura reached out to touch the child, but her hand just went through. The child then looked up at her. 

"W-who are you?" said the child in a frightened tone. Sakura, knowing that she could not be seen by the child, looked behind her, and came face to face with a grown child. He had jet black hair tied in a pony tail and wore what seemed to be an ANBU uniform.

"Hello, little girl. Why are you crying?" said the boy.

"The other children tease me about my large forehead and my pink hair. They called me a freak! Do I look weird to you?" The boy knelt to her and patted her head.

"But I think you're beautiful!"

"Please, oniichan, please don't lie. It hurts more when people lie to me."

"Well, do you think I'm lying?" Little Sakura shook her head. "Good. Hey, maybe your friends are looking for you."

"I don't have friends. They don't want to be my friends!" Little Sakura cried harder.

"Please don't cry. If you want, I'll be your friend."

"Really?" Big jade eyes looked up at the boy. The boy nodded and Little Sakura hugged him.

"Tell me, what's your name?" asked the boy.

"My name is Sakura."

"It fits you perfectly, Sakura-chan."

"Oniichan, what's your name?"

"Me? I'm Itachi."

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Sakura woke up the next morning and did her usual routine: take a bath, eat breakfast, go to training. But this time, she did it sluggishly. She practically dragged herself downstairs to eat breakfast and kept yawning. 

"What is wrong with me?" she said out loud. She sighed and yawned all the way to the small bridge where she usually meets up with her team and their ever so late teacher. She saw that Sasuke and Naruto were already there.

"Ohayou, Sakura-chan!" greeted Naruto. As usual, Sasuke just grunted.

"O-Ohayou, Naruto." she said weakly. "Sasuke-kun." She yawned again.

"Sakura-chan, you don't look so good. Didn't you get enough sleep last night?" Naruto asked and got no reply from Sakura.

"I don't think our sensei's gonna be here." said Sakura. The two boys looked at her questioningly. "Yesterday, sensei cut our training short, which means he might've gone on a mission."

"Or he's probably lazing off somewhere. Why don't we just spar for today?" Sakura nodded as Sasuke… grunted.

"So, who goes first?" asked Sakura.

"Why don't me and Sasuke have a go first?"

"Wait, me and Sakura first." They both looked at the egotistic bastard. **Uchiha Sasuke never ever wanted to spar with girls**. "She'll be snoozing by the time we get done." Naruto frowned and Sakura felt as if she was shot by an arrow. Uchiha Sasuke never got far to insulting her, only rejecting her.

"Why you--" Sakura cut Naruto off.

"It's alright Naruto."

"But Sakura-chan--"

"Zip it, Naruto." Naruto sadly sat on the grass as both Sakura and Sasuke got to their stances.

"Sakura, taijutsu only." said Sasuke.

3…

2…

1…

Sakura charged Sasuke with a kunai on her right hand, but Sasuke was quicker and was able to dodge Sakura's attack and also managed to get Sakura's kunai out of her hand and was now directed near Sakura's throat.

"Too slow, Sakura." Sasuke gave off his cute smirk which made Sakura blush, even for just a little while.

"But I'm not done yet." With a small 'swish', Sakura managed to back away from the Uchiha, only to find him behind her.

"Like I said, too slow." And gave off his trademark smirk. Sakura gave off a smirk herself. Sasuke looked at her, surprised, then noticed that a kunai was near his stomach. He backed away, but not too far to sweep Sakura off balance. Sakura managed to evade his counter attack, but was kicked on her back and onto the ground.

'Since when did he get so fast!' Sakura panicked.

'Next time, train some more before gawking at boys!' Inner Sakura said in an I-told-you-so voice.

'Shut up! You're supposed to be helping me!'

'I am helping you! I'm giving you advice!'

'Wrong help, wrong time! Be sensible!' Sakura got up and evaded Sasuke's kick before he hit her. Sakura was about to charge Sasuke again when something caught her eye. Up on a tree stood a man in a black cloak with red patches of clouds. And it seemed that the man was looking directly at her! Sasuke was to punch Sakura, but stopped immediately. He noticed that his teammate wasn't concentrating, and looked elsewhere. He looked behind him and saw nothing and looked back at Sakura.

"It's over, Sakura. I won." That snapped Sakura out of her thoughts.

"Huh, what!" Sakura stuttered. Naruto walked to them.

"Sakura-chan, are you alright?" Naruto asked worriedly.

"Y-yeah, I am."

"Next time, stop daydreaming and concentrate on the fight. If this wasn't a sparring match, I would've killed you." And with that, Sasuke left. Sakura just looked at Sasuke's retreating form.

"Naruto, I--"

"Sakura, don't kill me please, but what Sasuke said was right. You looked kinda… out. But I understand. I'd be excited to if my birthday was near." Naruto shrugged.

"Ah yeah. Sorry you didn't get to spar with Sasuke."

"That's alright. Hey, it's nearly lunch. Why don't I treat you out? You know, if it's alright with you since your birthday is near and everything."

"That's much better, Naruto!"

"I—uh, what?"

"Next time you ask a girl out on a date, do it politely, just like the way you asked me earlier! And yes, I'd love to go." Naruto lit up in excitement.

"Hontou!" Sakura smiled and nodded at him.

'That's strange. This is the first time I accepted Naruto's invite.' she thought.

'It's normal! He's so much better with that Uchiha guy. I wonder what we saw in that guy, though.' said Inner Sakura.

'I never wondered why, too.'

"Sakura-chan? Are you still going with me?" asked Naruto.

"Coming!" But in the same tree Sakura got distracted with, still stood the man, his dark eyes glowing in envy.

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Sorry for my grammatical errors! Please read and review! Enjoy! 


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